General Information
People in the fire service are critical in identifying youth who start fires in their community. Timely information is key and helps save lives.
How You Can Help
Youth Fire Intervention Teams (YFIT)
The Youth Fire Intervention Team is ready to help -- all you need to do is call the duty officer to activate
the team. This map shows the team coordinators in your area. If you are interested in joining this important team, please contact Kathi Osmonson.
You can find the YFIT protocol here.
Training
Intervention specialist and program manager training is available. Learn more in the
training section of our website.
On-site questionnaire
You can keep this on the trucks or in chief vehicles in case you come upon a youth-set fire. This form outlines critical criteria that will help decide which actions to take with a child.
If a family comes to the fire station with a child who is starting fire, please have the intake form handy for your office staff to use.
Resources For Your Community
Burn Institute's interactive website
The Burn Institute's Fire Safe Kid website is a fun, interactive place for kids to learn all about fire and burn prevention.
Firetrap
Firetrap is a game designed to teach children to quickly get out of the house in case of a fire.
Research
Several articles
are available from
YFIRES -- a non-profit organization which
develops and supports a wide range of intervention, communication, and
training for service providers of fire involved youth -- about youth-set
fires.
Articles and Newsletters
Articles by Minnesota State Fire Marshal Division staff and other experts as well as our Youth Firesetting Prevention and Intervention newsletter are
available here.
This article that appeared in the Minnesota State Fire Department Association Newspaper explains more about youth-set fires in Minnesota and what you should do if you come across a child who starts a fire.
More
For more activities and ideas, go to our useful links page. You can find it in the gray box on the left side of this page.